Sunday Night Ragu

Spag bol: beloved by most as a fail proof and inexpensive student/weekday staple/can't think of anything else to cook with mince dish. Yet say the word ragu and I instantly think of  something special made with slow cooked hunks of meat, beef, lamb, venison, whatever you have, gently simmered for as many hours as it takes to allow it to be shredded into soft sweet strands, all melty and delicious. I actually looked it up on Wikepdia and I think we have just bastardised and cheapened Ragu alla Bolognese into a reliable and easy weekday fodder.  I think of good old reliable bol as being the Primark to a decent ragu's Prada. Now we all love and need a bit of good old Primarni every now and again, but a proper slow ragu cooked with time and love, is really where the quality and taste is, a necessary treat. This may not make sense to boys reading this but never mind.

I went home for the weekend to stay with the rentals and had to leave on Sunday, before Mum's legendary roast beef (with the best Yorkshires known to man). Being the kind and generous soul she is, Mum actually cut off a chunk of the roasting joint and gave it to me to take home! How nice is that?! So I eventually got back to Surbiton, having left Salisbury, the train being diverted via Southampton Central (ggrrr), and proceeded to make beef ragu, and this is how you make it:

Feeds 3 (random I know but it was a random bit of beef, just add more tomatoes and wine if using more meat). Take a 400g piece of beef topside and slice in half lengthways so you have two thinner bits of meat. Brown in olive oil in a casserole and season. Remove and set aside and fry a chopped onion until starting to soften, then add 4 chopped cloves of garlic and a decent pinch of dried chilli. (I also threw in a spoonful of Colombian aji, a fiery hot pepper sauce that my friend Simon had just brought over with some amazing empanadas as a tasty and very welcome present). Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a glass of red wine, return the meat to the pan with all the juices, and add water if the liquid doesn't quite cover the meat. Put the lid on and simmer for a couple of hours, poking it about every once in a while to make sure its not sticking and adding more water if it looks like it's drying out. It's done when you can shred the meat with two forks, do this on a chopping board and then return all the meat back into the sauce (if it doesn't seem like it wants to shred, try from a different angle as the 'grain' of the meat is directional). I made a little gremolata which I thoroughly recommend (a mixture of finely chopped lemon zest, garlic and parsley sprinkled over the top), which really sings on top of the deep savoury meaty richness. Plop a few big spoon fulls of ragu over some pasta and the world is suddenly a better place.

Slow Cooked Pork, Stavros Style

Not sure how chorizo is in a
'Greek' dish but there you go.

Pork, lemon, chorizo, sherry vinegar and fennel, what's not to like here? This is one of those get home from work, throw it together, and leave it to simmer away dishes, leaving you free to not do all those chores you simply don't have time for, rather watch Come Dine With Me or a re-run of the Inbetweeners. It's cheap and store cupboardy so a big thumbs up from me, which was upgraded to a very enthusiastic thumbs up from the Boyfriend when he was finally fed.

Feeds 6. Pre-heat the oven to 150C. Brown a kilo of cubed pork shoulder in a big casserole in some olive oil and set aside. Then fry a sliced onion and a few chopped garlic cloves until softened. Add 3tbsp sherry vinegar, bubble for two minutes and throw in a handful of chopped chorizo, cook until it oozes with its lovely paprika spiked oil. Bash up a tsp fennel seeds and throw them in, and return the pork and any juices to the casserole. Finally stir in a tin of tomatoes and a squirt of tomato puree and about a litre of water so it all looks a bit splashy and wet. The sauce will reduce right down in the oven, so give it a good stir and season, bring to a simmer, then pop the lid on and cook in the oven for a couple of hours, take the lid off for another 15/30 mins depending how thick its all got. Serve with a zingy gremolata made by combing chopped lemon zest, garlic and parsley. Ooh next time I might use half onion, half chopped fennel for extra crunch.

This is lovely in the summer with some green beans and rice, and comforting mashed potatoes in the winter. Hmmm looking outside right now its more like December than August, so mash it is.

Best Roast Chook EVER (thanks Delia)

'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' is a phrase I generally live by, but as long as you keep it simple with a good roast chicken, a few variations won't hurt I reckon. On Sunday I fancied a mini re-vamp of our usual, there was nothing wrong with it, but there is another phrase I like: 'A change is a good as a holiday'. Perhaps a bit dramatic when describing a Sunday Roast but variety is the spice of life and all that. I will stop now.

and devour...

This is Queen Delia's recipe, I am yet to fail with one of her creations, she might not go too mental, and she might keep it all rather serene, but I grew up on her recipes and hope to grow old on them. I can always turn to Heston when a nervous breakdown is what I require in the kitchen anyway.

It's always a good idea to take the chicken out of the fridge an hour before cooking so it can warm up a bit. Not in a potential food poisoning kind of way, just to bring it to room temperature. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees. Take a big casserole dish (careful when taking out the le Creuset, don't nearly do your back in or drop it on your toes) and on a medium heat, melt a slab of butter and add to this a splash of olive oil. Brown the chicken all over, it will take about 10 minutes, the bottom and top is easy, you can just leave it while you peek at Come Dine With Me on the telly, but for the sides, just use tongs to hold it in place while it goes all golden. Take the chicken out of the pan and put aside. Throw in approx 30 (yes, 30) un-peeled (phew) cloves of garlic and a couple of rosemary sprigs and stir around. Replace chicken in the pan and pour a large glass of white wine around the chicken. Bring to a simmer, meanwhile season the chicken really well and sprinkle with a big tbsp of chopped rosemary. Cover the lid with a double thickness piece of foil and then put the lid on over that, ensuring a tight seal. Put in the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes (this all depends on the size of the chicken, this one was quite big). Go wild with the smell that comes out after about 10. Remove the lid and return to the oven for another 15 mins to re-crisp the skin. Take out and rest for 10 minutes before carving. Serve with the heavenly garlicky gravy at the bottom of the pan, not forgetting the now very soft cloves, squeeze the sweet juicy pulp them all over your roasties. Thanks be to Delia.

A Risotto Mama wouldn't be proud of

I don't like people who moan about the weather, this is England, this is winter. It is going to be cold and dark, and sporadically wet, usually all at the same time. However, it is even starting to get to me, I consider myself very pro-England, I like the change of seasons and our beautiful countryside, and I genuinely believe if we had amazing weather all the time then we wouldn't appreciate Mr Sun putting his hat on, however briefly over the summer months. Not wanting to get out of bed in the morning for fear of freezing to death when I run down the death stairs (v. steep and shallow even with my size 4.5 feet) into the shower is getting tedious. I will ignore the fact that I am equally reluctant in the warmer months...

One advantage of all this cold weather is that I can take food out of the freezer and leave on the side to defrost, without the niggling worry of the possibility of it getting a bit warm and harbouring some nasty bugs, which I do think about in summer months. I can never remember to swap freezer for fridge before bed, so always take the gamble. But in winter, I don't know why we bother with a fridge its so cold. I returned from work to find the little bit of smoked haddock on the side, and on discovering a slightly manky leek at the back of the fridge (leeks are cool, you can keep peeling until no longer manky) it had to be smoked haddock and leek risotto. I even had chicken stock from Sunday's roast ready. Euurgh how prepared? The following recipe serves 2.

Half and slice one leek (washing to remove any soil etc) and cook gently in butter and olive oil until softened. At the same time place a piece of smoked haddock (approx 200g, you don't need much) in a dish, cover with boiling water and cover with cling film for 10 minutes. When fish is cooked, removed from the water, remove skin, flake, and put aside. When leeks are really soft add risotto rice (approx 75g per person, I don't normally measure things but with this I have to as its not great cold) and stir to cover in the oil and butter. Add a glass of white wine and stir until absorbed. Then add hot chicken stock, a ladle at a time, until each measure is absorbed. After doing this for about 20 mins it should be done, with a bit of bite, i.e. not mushy but definately not crunchy. I like it a bit juicy too. Season and stir in the haddock with the juice of half a lemon. I added half a sliced cabbage, already blanched, and it worked really well, and had it quite soupy for extra lush factor but it's supposed to have just chopped chives on top which is also delicious. I don't think Mama would approve of this not particularly Italian dish but its not half a good way to deal with a manky leek.

Due to it still being January when I cooked this, I was having a booze free night. Eurgh. The cooking of any risotto is hugely improved by an accompaniment of lashings of wine for the person chained to the hob, resigned to stirring for half an hour, one ladle of stock for the risotto, one glass of wine for chef. The risotto is cooked when chef can't stand up any more.

Excess Sausage Cure Part 2

Somehow, there are STILL sausages in the freezer, what was the deal? Buy one get twenty free?? But there are worse things life can throw at you than your freezer being full of sausages, like the bow falling off your Ferragamo pumps (still weeping) or finding out your credit card bill is twice what you estimated it to be (still hyperventilating). To counteract the bad things life sends your way, a nice supper is essential, I live by this philosophy, and good grub will pick me up from the darkest of moments, bad food however, will ruin everything and prompt a massive sulk and possibly an argument with long suffering Boyfriend. Hence it's best to just eat nice things. Which can be anything from a Big Mac to a roast chook and everything in between, I ain't no foody purist type.

So in a final attempt to banish the sausages (I think there might be one pack lurking still in the bottom drawer...) it was time for sausage pasta. Sounds like something my sister would serve the kids she nannys but actually its brilliant and you can make it more grown up, depending on diners.

Take all the meat out of the skins of a pack of sausages, I cut a slit in the skin and just pop it out (buy nice ones, cheap ones are worryingly 'smooth'). Fry a chopped onion and some garlic, when softening add the sausage meat and mush it up and cook like you would mince for a nice bol. Keep it all frying away, get the pasta on, any is good, try to avoid cooking four times as much as you need, as I always do. Add some chilli to the meat and some chopped thyme and season. At this point there are choices to be made, either add grated parmesan and serve as it is, or add chopped tomatoes, or add some white wine and creme fraiche or combine both options. The sausage meat provides carnivorous lush factor and the rest is just sauce.

However, I must warn...it is scarily easy, when cooking this dish, to devour a whole pack of sausages between two, what with the mandatory and numerous taste tests the poor cook has to carry out, and even when you are good and leave some in the pan, there is always the 'well there's not quite enough for another meal' argument. Nom nom. January diet is going well then.

The Comfort of Carbonara

We often find ourselves waking up a bit late on a Saturday, head a little groggy from too much booze the night before. It's a bit late for breakfast but need something NOW to sort things out. So often when I'm trying to think of something easy, quick and gorgeous to cook, Spaghetti Carbonara pops into my head. When I suggest this to Boyfriend, his eyes light up (as much as they can when a headache is pounding behind them) and I get a very enthusiastic 'Yes. I want that one.' A very energetic set by Kissy Sell Out was on i-player, helping me along the way.



Get twirling



By no means am I claiming this to be authentic, but it's similar to what they serve in my favourite Italian restaurant. Quite why people mess about with separating egg yolks and creme fraiche in various bastardisations of carbonara I will never know. This recipe takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. Perfect when feeling delicate and in no mood to wait for a feed. I find it preferable to feed Boyfriend pretty quickly after he demands food, otherwise his blood sugar levels drop and out comes Mr. Hyde. This is dedicated to my little sister to whom I have given this recipe to a million times. I don't think she ever actually writes it down.



Get the spaghetti going (normally I don't care what pasta I use but with this, spaghetti really is the best). Chop an onion and gently fry in a big saucepan, when it has softened a bit add chopped pancetta (I get the tubs of the ready chopped stuff - GENIUS) or bacon, and add to onions, keep stirring it so it doesn't burn. You want the onions really soft and juicy. While this is happening grate a handful of parmesan, take a small jug, and beat one or two eggs in it (we had an eggy breakfast this morning so only one for today), add the parmesan and approx. 200ml of single cream depending on how saucey you like it. I like it saucy. Grind lots of black pepper in, along with saltand mix. By now the onion mixture and pasta will probably be done, drain the pasta and add to the onion pan, turning off the heat. Pour over the eggy cream mixture, add a handful of chopped parsley and mix it all up really well. The heat from the pasta and onions will cook the eggs and the result is a bit like mini scrambled eggs. I add the juice of a lemon, which isn't traditional but it perks it up a bit, along with the parsley. And there you have it, pasta version of bacon and eggs.



Excess Sausage Cure

How to turn a million bangers into none.

It got cold again today, as my fingers and toes froze on the walk home tonight, the thought of a gorgeous-equivalent-of-a-duvet-casserole quickened my stride. On inspection of the freezer this morning I found no less than five packets of sausages. I do appreciate it when boyfriend does the shopping, I really do, but I wish that just sometimes he'd stick to the list and try and ignore the tantalising special offer red stickers.

Sausage casserole it was then. There must be a million ways of cooking it but right now this is my favourite. No specific quantities, its all down to how many you cook for and how you like it. Brown the sausages in a casserole dish, add chopped onion and garlic, finely chopped fresh rosemary, turn the heat down, cover and cook gently for 15 minutes. Once onions are soft add chicken stock, beans of your liking (flageolets, black eyed beans or even chick peas are good) and season. Cook for about 20 minutes, stir in a decent glug of single cream,then add a load of kale (lush dark green goodness that probably makes you live forever I reckon) and simmer away, covered for another 10 minutes until the kale is cooked. I add a load of chilli at this point. But I add it to most things. Check seasoning and top with chopped parsley. And serve with mash. Obviously.